Chael Sonnen “has not put a pair of gloves on since he took the ones off the night he fought Anderson Silva”

Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson have been part of Team Quest for years, the latter even being a founding member of the respected training center. And, when Henderson recently pulled out of his UFC 151 bout with Jon Jones, UFC President Dana White said Sonnen had offered to step in. Though some fans and media members were quick to assume that meant Sonnen had been training with Henderson the whole time, and Jones’ coaches echoed their sentiments, according to Sonnen’s manager (Mike Roberts) that wasn’t the case at all.

“Chael has not put on a pair of gloves since he took the ones off the night he fought Anderson Silva. He has not trained one day other than some light jogs around the neighborhood,” Roberts told MMAWeekly.

“Chael was talking about Jon because Jon is the 205-pound champion and that is where Chael is shooting for; that’s who he wants to fight,” elaborated Roberts.

While Jones has since been booked to face Vitor Belfort at UFC 152, it appears Sonnen doesn’t think Belfort will make it to the event and will be waiting anxiously for his phone to ring again leading up to the scheduled scrap.

“Right now he’s just not sure if Belfort will show up to fight. For whatever reasons of his own, he thinks that. You’ve got to assume Belfort is going to show up and move forward from there. That’s really where we’re at,” explained Roberts.

MMA is one of the few sports you hear athletes not training or cross training regularly in less they have a fight lined up… I know there are plenty of fighters that do go right back in the gym but you do hear guys say they are out of shape or not ready to take a fight…. I thought if you were a pro athlete you lived at the gym no matter what… I’m not judging from here on the couch but it is interesting.

Chael fought Anderson in July, you guys really think he didin’t take a month or so off? Plus he’s working as an analyst for FOX so why would he be in the gym full time when he just had a fight announced less than 2 weeks ago….and it’s not till the end of the year? I’m curious, has Anderson been training?

I wonder if Chael thinks Belfort will get injured due to all the recent injuries here lately, or if its because Belfort kinda has a history of backing out of fights, for one reason or another, at the last minute.

The vast majority of guys competing at this level keep themselves in really good condition (relatively speaking) year round. But that’s much different than going thru a full training camp & being fully revved up for a fight. To try to maintain that level–week after week, month after month–would be overkill. Especially for a guy like Chael, who’s 35 years old (with testosterone issues).

But at age 35, now faced with trying to break into a new division against bigger opponents, and seemingly already angling for a post-fight career in commentating, Chael wasn’t going to turn down a free title shot & big payday. It was a no-brainer, and good for Chael for being in decent enough shape & willing to stand in there opposite Jon Jones to take a beating to collect that paycheck.

But for the UFC to be willing to toss a guy from another weight class, coming off a recent loss, who’s not in fight shape, into a main event title fight to carry a PPV…yikes. Really shows how desperate they were & how far they’re willing to go in putting the almighty buck ahead of the legitimacy of the sport. I’m glad Jones didn’t bail them out, and can only think it will force them to avoid similarly risky/poor planning with future events.

Lastly, sounds like Chael vs. Forrest is still on after all. Any other noise still coming out that would suggest otherwise?